End-play device for rotary machines.



Nn. 7|2,590; Patented Nov. 4, |902.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NVILLIAM B. POTTER AND EDIVARD M. IIEVLETT, OF SCI-IENECTADY, NEWv YORK, ASSIGNORS TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

END-PLAY DEVICE FOR ROTARY MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 712,590, dated November 4, 1902.

Application filed March 27, 1901. Serial No. 53,045. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern: organization is very eective in practice, but

Be it known that we, \VILLIAM B. POTTER maintains a more rapid movement of the and EDWARD M. HEWLETT, citizens of the shaft than is desirable, and it is the object United States, and residents of Schenectady, of our invention to slow down the number' of county of Schenectady, State of New York, oscillations of the shaft. We effect this re- 55 have invented certain new and useful Imsult by substituting for the ball a roller provements in End-Play Devices for Rotary which bears against the end of the shaft a Machines, (Case No. 1,565,) of which the folshort distance from its axial center, the shaft lowing is a specification. of the roller, with which it is rigid, rolling on xo This invention relates to devices for inainasurface havinga small inclination relatively 6o taining end play of the shafts of rotary mato the end of the shaft. By this meansaconchines, and is especially useful in connection siderable number of revolutions of the mawith certain types of electric generators and chine-shaft must occur before the forward motors. In such machines 4diiicultyhas been thrust is completed, and the reciprocatingr found from grooving of the cominutator by movement is therefore much slower than in 65 the brushes, which bear upon the same porthe device above referred to. tion of the commntator-surface continuously Our invention therefore comprises means and tend to form grooves or tracks. In types for effecting end play of a shaft comprising of machines driven by belts no such difficulty a thrustsurface; inclined to the axis of the 2o is experienced, as an end play of the'shaft is shaft, means adapted to engage said surface 7o maintained which prevents the grooving, but and the shaft when the latter drifts to its norin other types of machines not belt-connectmal position, and reduction-gearing between ed-such as rotary converters, inotor-generthe two to insure a slow outward thrust to ators, and others where the rotary element is the shaft.

free to obey its own tendency to shift in its It comprises also other featuresthe novelty 75 bearings-the field-magnet holds the armaof which will be hereinafterdescribed, and inture in a certain definite position and will dicated in the claims. groove the com mutator under the brush-tread In the accompanying drawings, which illusunless special provisions are adopted to retrate the invention, Figure l represents the 3o ventit. Various devices have been suggested shaft of a machine, such as arotary converter; 8o

to avoid this trouble, all of them having proand Fig. 2 is a sectional detail thereof. visions for positively maintainingato-and-fro The shaft is shown in Fig. 1 as at the limit relative movement of the brushes and shaft, of its outward motion in its bearing 2 under so as to distribute the brush-tread over the the infiuence of the end-play device and surface of the commutator. Our invention against the bias given it by the magnetic field 85 relates to the type of such devices covered by in which the armature which the shaft car- Aa patent issued to Henry Geisenhoncr, No. ries rotates. The relation of the armature 669,630, dated March 12, 1901, in which the and its field at the limits of end playis shown shaft is given an end thrust by an inclined in Fig. 2, the full lines indicating the abnordisk, in the face of which is mounted a steel mal position to which the armature is shifted 9o ball adapted to roll in a circular groove by the end-play device. Opposite the end of around the face of the disk. In the constructhe shaft is mounted a box 3, provided with tion shown in this patent when the shaft is ways on its inner surface, along which slides drawn back to the normal position in which a disk 4, pressed by a four-arm leaf-spring 5,

it would be maintained by the field-magnet riveted to a set-screw 6, which is adjustable 95 of the machine it forms a contact with the in the end of the box 3. The disk 4 has at ball, rolling the latter around in the circular the end which faces the shaft an inclined edge .groove and by reason of the inclination of 7, the top edge of which is nearer the shaft :the disk giving the shaft a forward thrust thanthe bottom edge. In thedisk is mounted 5o against the bias of the field-magnet. This athreaded plug 8, through which passesfreely loo a spindle 9, mounted in the plug by ball-bearings, as indicated. The disk 4 is split at one side, and a bolt passing through the two jaws, as indicated at 10, permits the plug 8 to be clamped in any position in which it is adjusted. Rigidly connected with the spindle 9 is a projection 1l, forming a bearing for the roller 12, provided vwith an adj Listing-nut and jamnut,as 13 13, for locking it in a position of adjustment to permit easy rotation. Forming part of the roller 12 is a cylindrical extension 14, bearing on inclined edge 7. A steel shoe 15 is screwed to the end of the shaft at a point close toits axial center. As shown in Fig. 1, the shaft is in the act of being shifted against the bias given by the magnetic field. A moment later it will have been thrown to the left, clearing contact with the roller 1:2, thereby permitting the latter to drop by gravity to a diametrically opposite position to that indicated in the drawings. The shaft will then drift tothe right under the bias afforded by the magnetic field until the shoe 15 is brought up against the roller 12, which will then have dropped by gravity to the position indicated by dotted lines. The shaft will then grip the roller and cause it to rotate, its rate of travel depending upon the relative diameters of the roller and the distance from the center of the shaft to its point of engagement therewith, and its rate of travel on the inclined edge 7 of the disk will depend on the relative diameters of the bearing edge of said disk to the extension 14. organization forms, in fact, a sun-and-planet gearing, in which a slow thrust is communicated to the rotary element compared to the speed of revolution of its shaft. Thus a conlparatively slow forward thrustwill be eifected. During the time when the roller is traveling over the edge of the disk 4 the spring 5 is being put under tension and assists the roller in giving an outward thrust to the shaft.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. Means for effecting end play in rotary machines, comprising an inclined thrust-su rface mounted in a plane transverse to the shaft, a roller on said surface operated by the shaft at one limit of its end play, and speed-reducing gearing between the shaft and thrust-surface.

2. Means for effecting end play in rotary machines, comprising an inclined thrust-surface mounted in a plane transverse to the shaft, a roller mounted to travel a circular path on saidsurface, and a roller of different diameter rigidly connected thereto adapted to be operated by the shaft at one limit of its end play.

3. Means for effecting end play in rotary machines, comprising a shaft having a normal bias to shift in one direction, an inclined surface opposite the'end of the shaft, a roller yadapted to traverse a circular path on the surface, and a roller of larger diameter rigidly connected therewith adapted to engage the shaft at a point eccentric to its axis at or near the end of its normal thrust, the roller being adapted to shift to the remote end of the incline when disengaged from the shaft.

4. Means for effecting end play in rotary machines, comprising a shaft having a norlnal bias to shift in oneldirection, an inclined thrust-surface opposite the end of the shaft, a spindle journaled centrally in the thrust-surface, and a roller carried by the spindle revolving in a plane transverse to the same having two bearing-surfaces of dierent diameter, one engaging the thrust-surface and the other gripped by the shaft when shifted under its bias.

5. Means for eecting end play in rotary machines, comprising a shaft having a bias in one direction, an inclined surface mounted in a plane transverse to the shaft, sun-andplanet gearing operated by the shaft when shifted under the bias, and a roller driven over the inclined surface by said gearing.

6. Means for effecting end play in rotary machines, comprising a shaft having a bias in one direction, an inclined surface mounted in a plane transverse to the shaft, and means for eifecting a thrust to the shaft against its bias continuing during more than a single revolution of said shaft.

7. Means for regulating end playin rotary machines, comprising a shaft, means for effecting end thrust, and means for maintaining a slow speed of movement during said end thrust compared with the speed of the shaft.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set ourhands this 25th day of March, 1901.

WILLIAM BnPOTTER. EDWARD M. HEWLETT.

Witnesses:

Bi'tNJAi/IIN B. HULL, EDWARD WILLIAMS, Jr.

IOO 

